St. Joseph-Ogden 2023 Hall of Fame: Jerry Hewerdine
EDITOR’S NOTE: St. Joseph-Ogden will induct five new members into its Hall of Fame on Sept. 15, 2023 at halftime of the school’s homecoming football game against Chillicothe IVC. The new inductees are Brian Allen (Class of 1993), Jerry Hewerdine (teacher and coach), Marvin Lee Flessner (Class of 1951), Susan Pensinger (teacher and coach) and Randy Wolken (Class of 1968). Today’s profile: Jerry Hewerdine.
By FRED KRONER
The definition of the word “coach” never seems to quite cover the enormity and magnitude of the role.
Yes, they prepare game plans, instruct and train individuals in athletic endeavors and, at some levels, also recruit athletes.
In truth, there is so much more. They advise. They encourage. They discipline. They are role models and father (or mother) figures.
“It’s not always an easy job,” said Jerry Hewerdine, who has devoted the last 44 years to coaching cross-country and/or track and field athletes at St. Joseph-Ogden.
“The trouble with teaching and coaching is you don’t always know how you affect someone until 10 or 15 years later when they come back to see you.”
Hewerdine is one of five individuals who will be enshrined in the SJ-O Hall of Fame on Friday (Sept. 15) at halftime of the Spartans’ football homecoming game.
Jennifer Brown Vander Logt is proof of Hewerdine’s impact.
She was a five-time IHSA state champion outdoors (winning three discus titles and two shot put crowns). She was a high school All-American who went on to Indiana University and became a collegiate All-American.
“I was from a single-parent family,” Brown Vander Logt said. “No one in my family had gone to college.
“He (Hewerdine) was the first to put in my ear that this (track and field) could get me through college. If I didn’t have him as a constant, I don’t know if I could have figured it out.
“He was very calm, which is what I needed at that time. He was always there keeping me going whether I had a good day or a bad day.”
Brown Vander Logt graduated from SJ-O in 1997. A quarter of a century later, she still holds the girls’ school record at SJ-O for the longest discus throw (150 feet, 3 inches) as well as the mark for the best shot put (46 feet, 1 inch).
“When people took note of what I was doing, Huey (Hewerdine) kept me grounded,” she added. “The right coach will figure out what you need, and that’s what he did.”
Hewerdine was hired at SJ-O for the 1978-79 school year. The Spartans didn’t yet offer girls’ cross-country, so he spent his first seven falls at the school helping to coach football.
He worked with the boys’ track and field team from his first year at the school and in 1989-90 was named the head coach for the girls’ track and field program.
Coaching was an expectation when he joined the SJ-O faculty.
“The deal when I signed the contract was to coach football and track, and assist with winter supervision (at home events),” Hewerdine said.
One of his most important contributions came prior to his inaugural year at the helm of the girls’ track and field team.
“I had been an assistant and felt we weren’t utilizing the staff as much as we should,” Hewerdine said. “I said, ‘We’ve got to combine them and coach events, not boys or girls.’”
There was some resistance as the boys’ program was coming off its first sectional title ever in the sport. Instead of the boys’ program losing traction, however, the girls’ program gained ground rapidly.
In Hewerdine’s first year as the official head coach, the girls captured a sectional championship.
The plan for coaches to train athletes of both genders worked, Hewerdine said, because the coaching staff was fully committed to the idea.
“What’s best for the kids is to get coaching,” Hewerdine said. “We were fortunate to have excellent coaches who left their ego at the door and wanted what was best for the athletes.”
At the outset, the primary responsibilities were shared by three coaches: Hewerdine covered the throws and vaults; Gary Garrison handled the sprinters and hurdlers and Jim Acklin worked with the distance runners.
“When we specialized, no event went uncovered,” Acklin said. “We all got along pretty well, and we all had our own niche. It would not have worked if you cared who got the credit.”
To that point, Acklin recalled an incident at the girls’ 1990 state meet. The Spartans’ 3,200-meter won the state title. A newspaper reporter sought out the listed head coach – Hewerdine – and asked what workouts the foursome of Marla McKinney, Amy Roberts, Beth Rudnicke and Ashley Wright had done during the week.
Acklin picks up the story.
“Jerry said, ‘How should I know? Go ask Acklin.’ Of course he knew, but he didn’t want to take credit.”
All three of the veteran Spartan coaches (Garrison, Acklin and Hewerdine) are enshrined in the Illinois Track and Cross-Country Association Hall of Fame.
Hewerdine was the last to get the call. He was inducted in 2007. In 2000 and 2001, he was the ITCCA Coach of the Year.
“The night before the induction, I was with one of the guys from up north who was on the selection committee,” Acklin said. “He said it was incredible that three guys from the same program are in the Hall of Fame.
“He said, ‘We knew something special was going on down there and figured if we kept inducting guys, we’d get the right one.’”
SJ-O has enjoyed unparalleled success in its running sports for more than three decades.
During the 26 years that Hewerdine was listed as the head coach for girls (1990-2015), the school won 20 conference titles and 16 sectional titles.
SJ-O produced 46 individual All-Staters (eight of whom were Class 1A state champions) and had 22 All-State relays in that span, including championship 3,200-meter relays in 1990 and 2000.
Hewerdine was an official assistant with the boys’ program from 1978-2009. During that time, the school won 14 additional sectionals.
Fellow coach Dike Stirrett, who worked with high school runners from Champaign Central and Tolono Unity for decades, called Hewerdine one of the sport’s nice guys.
“He was a very hospitable fellow, an easy guy to talk to,” Stirrett said. “He always had a smile on his face and something witty to say.
“The thing that impresses me is how consistently good they’ve been over the years.”
From Hewerdine’s perspective, there’s plenty of credit to share.
“It’s not one person that did this,” he said. “It was a group of good coaches. It was a team effort.
“You don’t do it by yourself. You have to have them behind you.”
Hewerdine was reluctant to refer to the members of the track staff as assistants.
“I don’t see them as assistants,” he said. “I see them as coaches. They’re not just filling in. They are there teaching. They act like head coaches for that event.”
As different members joined the track staff over the years, Hewerdine’s assignments changed in order to best use the talents of the new additions.
“Wherever there’s a need, I slide in,” he said. “This year I helped with the shot and discus.
“At one time or another, I’ve helped with all of the events but the hurdles. One year I did all of the field events.”
Prior to coming to SJ-O, Hewerdine spent five years at Paxton, where he helped start the junior high track and field program in 1974 and coached the seventh-grade boys’ basketball team for three years.
He then journeyed up north to Lincoln-Way for two years, but did no coaching.
At each stop, he taught industrial arts. It was a subject that he favored.
“I’m a hands-on person,” he said. “Not all students learn by the book.”
He retired from SJ-O in 2006, but returned to teach industrial arts for two more years.
When he left for good, so did the subject he taught.
“Industrial arts is a dying breed,” Hewerdine said. “Nobody takes it as a major. When I didn’t come back, they closed it up.
“It has been incorporated with ag.”
A 1967 Fisher High School graduate, Hewerdine won 10 varsity letters while competing for the Bunnies, three each in football (as a halfback and safety) and basketball (as a guard) and four in track and field (as a 220-yard specialist).
He played football as a freshman at Eastern Illinois University and focused on academics thereafter.
As for the upcoming Hall of Fame honor, Acklin said Hewerdine is ultra deserving of all the recognition.
“If anyone is genuinely for the kids, it’s Jerry Hewerdine,” Acklin said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone with his level of success have such a little ego.
“He was an impactful teacher and coach.”
